1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus to ensure proper geocoding in an asset tracking system. More particular, the invention relates to obtaining multiple descriptors about a location and preventing the geocoding of the location if the two or more pieces of information are not spatially near.
2. Description of the Related Art
The prior art relates to asset tracking systems. An asset tracking system helps organizations manage their assets and how those assets respond to emergencies or incidents. These systems include the automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems used by city police and fire departments. In such systems, an agency's asset tracking system controls or directs a fleet of vehicles. Directing the vehicles begins when a customer calls for assistance. Customers may range from a buyer of an appliance requesting a service call to a citizen of a town calling the fire department for help. The organization gathers the customer's address. This data is entered into the asset tracking system. Once input, the asset tracking system matches a location, using a longitude and latitude, to the address. The asset tracking system obtains the position for the assets in the asset tracking system. The longitude and latitude is sent to the fleet assets and those assets respond to the location. An agency can compare the location provided by the customer to the positions of the assets, and the asset tracking system can direct an asset near the customer to proceed to the customer's location.
Unfortunately, this simple and effective system can encounter problems. One problem occurs when the address given by the customer describes two different locations. For instance, many cities have more than one street with the same name. As an example, a city can have more than one “Main Street” or “First Street.” Another problem occurs when the asset tracking system cannot find the location of the address. Many growing cities do not have recently created addresses in the asset tracking system. Any of these and more situations cause the asset tracking system to provide responders with erroneous locations and directions.
Asset tracking systems depend on accurate information to effectively manage the fleet of vehicles. If the information provided by the customer leads to one of the problems mentioned above, the system can sometimes send an asset that is too far away. The extra distance that the asset must cover creates delays in response time. In some circumstances, the asset tracking system sends multiple assets to the location, which creates inefficiencies. In a worst case scenario, sending too many vehicles to one incident may preclude a response to another incident because no resources would be available. An asset tracking system could also send the assets to the wrong location, which would result in no response to a customer's call.
Thus, there is a need to verify the information given by a customer before allowing the location to be presented to responders.